Cadalyst - August 2008 - (Page 37)

cadmanager support easier, I offer the following recommendations and tools for your consideration: Remote desktop support. The ability to see a remote user’s machine can be a critical tool in debugging problems. Consider using tools such as LogMeIn (see “Multioffice Management Tools”) to connect directly to remote user’s machines when you need to provide support. Video capture technology. If your IT department won’t let you use remote desktop-support technology because of security or firewall limitations, the next best thing is to have remote users create video captures using tools such as Camtasia Studio (see “Multioffice Management Tools”) and then e-mailing the video to you. Video capture isn’t as good as remote desktop support, but it is a lot better than guessing. Multiofﬁce Management Tools LogMeIn www.logmein.com LogMeIn is a great remote machine management tool with free remote desktop-sharing tools. The $50 per year version of LogMeIn gives you remote hard disk management and a WebEx-style remote meeting tool. LogMeIn installs as a service on a client machine and then allows you to log into the remote machine given a dual-layer user name and password security structure. For additional security, the remote user can enable LogMeIn only when he wishes to share his machine, if he doesn’t want to leave the machine online. I use LogMeIn with a number of my clients, and I have always been pleased with the results and security of the system. TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio Use Remote Power Users Let’s face it, sometimes you can’t be at the remote office, and remote support doesn’t always solve the problems. Your best line of defense in these situations is the motivated power user who is willing to help perform CAD management duties in a pinch. To find these power users and get them on board, I offer a few recommendations: Put out the call. Send communications to all your CAD users in each office asking who would be willing to assist with CAD management and support functions at his or her office. Stress that this position would be minimally demanding of their time and that you won’t cause project delays for work teams at the remote office. You’ll never know who will step up and help if you don’t ask. Give a reward. If someone is willing to help you at a remote office, reward him or her with a professional benefit such as educational materials, a couple of paid training days per year from your budget (if you can swing it), or an Amazon.com gift certificate. Even a small token is a reminder of how much you value your remote power users. Perform quarterly reviews. Once a quarter, hold a telephone conference with your remote power users to get their ideas for how things can be done better. I often find that the remote perspective can be different from my perspective — often better. www.camtasia.com Camtasia Studio is a software-only video/audio capture utility that allows users to record what they’re doing on their computers and then send it via e-mail. If they use headset microphones, they can even describe the problems so you can see and hear their descriptions. Camtasia costs roughly $300, so you won’t buy a copy for everyone, but a copy for each of your remote power users is a great investment. (For advice about using Camtasia Studio to create training videos for your staff, consult my CAD Manager’s Newsletter, June 11 and June 25 editions, www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerNewsletter.) remote desktop support and server file management, and these functions are facilitated by your IT department. You need to make sure IT understands your support needs and assists you with deploying the tools you need to do your job — but they’ll only know about your needs if you tell them. Summing Up I hope I’ve been able to raise your awareness of the issues that you’ll need to deal with in a multioffice CAD environment, and that you’ll take time to consider some of the tools I’ve brought to your attention. When your top priorities are communicating with and actively supporting your remote users, you’re well on your way to effective CAD management in a multioffice environment. Until next month. Robert Green performs CAD programming and consulting throughout the United States and Canada. His book, Expert CAD Management: The Complete Guide is now available. Reach him via his Web site at www.cad-manager.com. IT Coordination If you work in a company with a centralized IT department, consider that it has the same remote office management problems you do, except with computers and networks instead of CAD. Try to see if you and your IT department can work together to solve common problems to achieve greater efficiency. Here are a few ideas: Task sharing. If you’re going to the Anaheim office to do some CAD training and the IT department needs to swap out a backup system, see if you can help to save IT a trip and the Anaheim users the frustration of the swap out. Conversely, if you need to swap out some monitors on a few CAD stations in Chicago, maybe an IT representative will be there before you and could assist. Task sharing takes a little time and goodwill to initiate, but it pays big dividends in terms of more immediate support for remote users. Remote support. Your ability to support remote users is largely a function of network- or Internet-based tools for August 2008 cadalyst www.cadalyst.com Read More at Cadalyst.com CAD Manager’s Newsletter archives www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerNewsletter CAD Manager’s Toolbox/Q&A www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerToolbox CAD Manager Discussion Forum http://forums.cadalyst.com/ 37 http://www.logmein.com http://www.camtasia.com http://www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerNewsletter http://Amazon.com http://www.cad-manager.com http://Cadalyst.com http://www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerNewsletter http://www.cadalyst.com/CADManagerToolbox http://forums.cadalyst.com/ http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - August 2008

Cadalyst - August 2008 Contents Editor's Window CAD Central Tech Trends: Rotor Bug Strikes Again Cadalyst Labs Reviews: Digital Dreams — Visualization Software: Make Your Design Visions a Reality Maple 12 — Math Software AutoLINE 2009 — Linetype Management Add-On Deep Access — Digital-Media Asset Management Software View Point: Examining the Autodesk–Bentley Agreement CAD Manager: Managing Multioffice Mayhem MCAD Modeling: Do You Need Modeling Standards? AEC Insight: Modeling Technology for Building Engineers CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Hot Tip Harry: Better Living with Objects and Smart Entities

Cadalyst - August 2008

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